On June 4 at 7:30pm, violists Gavon Peck and Dr. Joelle Arnhold, along with pianist Bethany Pietroniro, will perform an eclectic program featuring works by both past and contemporary composers at the Russell/Wanlass Performance Hall at Utah State University. There will be a pre-recital lecture given by Dr. Arnhold beginning at 7:00pm.

The Johansen-Livengood Trio is presenting a concert of viola, clarinet, and piano works on Tuesday, May 14 at 7:30 pm in Dumke Recital Hall at the University of Utah. Carl Johansen and Lee and Melissa Livengood will perform works by Bruch and Piazolla. See you there!

We have a big viola week coming up! Renowned British violist Roger Chase will be returning to Utah for a series of concerts and classes, followed by one of our favorite events – the UVS Annual Recital!

Dear Utah Viola Society,
The University of Utah has a brand new Viola Club! Welcome to the world, L’Alto! L’Alto is hosting two (count’em, two!) amazing guest artists at the University of Utah this month.

Professor Katherine Murdock will be offering a masterclass at the University of Utah on January 16, 2019 at 2pm, Room 318. Professor Murdock is Associate Professor of Music at the University of Maryland. If you aren’t able to attend this wonderful class at the U of U, she will also be offering an open masterclass at BYU on January 17, 2019 from 5-7pm, location TBD.

Both of these masterclasses are free and open to the public.

Dr. Molly Gebrian will be visiting the University of Utah January 22-23. Dr. Gebrian is Assistant Professor of Viola and Music Theory at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. She will be presenting a lecture, masterclass, and recital as part of her visit. Her lecture entitled “What Musicians Can Learn about Current Brain Research” will be Tuesday, January 22 in David Gardner Hall at the University of Utah in Room 270 (“the choir rehearsal room”) at 4:10pm. The masterclass will be in Dumke Recital Hall at 6:15pm. On January 23, Dr. Gebrian will be featured with her partner pianist/percussionist Danny Holt performing Trios for Two.

All of these events are free and open to the public. Join us!

We are so grateful to the University of Utah College of Fine Arts and FAF Grants, and L’Alto: Viola Club @ U of U for making these events possible! Special shout-outs to the officers of the club: President Katherine Deneris, and officers Tara Hoellein and Rachel Dodge for their work organizing these two events. Bravi, tutti!

(If you want to keep track of what L’Alto: Viola Club @ U of U is doing, you can join their Facebook group!)

We named ourselves after the stunning geography of the summer music festival that the three of us have in common. The Grand Teton Music Festival has happened every summer in Jackson, Wyoming, since 1962. The mountains of the Teton range, and the trails and scenery of Grand Teton National Park have been such an iconic backdrop to some truly life-changing performances for all three of us, and so by taking the name of this special place we hope to pay homage to and continue that tradition of beauty.

I first met Greg and Jason early in the 2000s. Met them separately, that is. Jason came to the Utah Symphony having mostly finished his Doctoral work at Rice University. I was lucky enough to be on his audition committee, and have since been continually in awe of his artistry. Greg and I met at a summer festival in Bellingham, Washington. The festival featured a small chamber orchestra (billed as the “All-Star Orchestra”), and I couldn’t help but notice Greg’s gorgeous clarinet sound.

Fast forward a few years to Greg’s living room at the Grand Teton Festival, hanging out after an orchestra concert. Plans were hatched to try to do some chamber music the following summer. That plan materialized in a recorded-live performance of Schumann’s “Fairy Tale Pieces,” hosted and eventually broadcast by Fred Child and his NPR program Performance Today. Never have I had so much fun in a concert, or been so proud of a broadcast. I felt excited to do it again.

Greg must have felt the same way, because he was able to secure funding from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s Principal Chair Grant Fund (through the O’Donnell Foundation) to make a recording. We brought Jason onboard, and spent the last precious days of our summer vacations recording in Teton Village’s Walk Festival Hall. In addition to the Schumann, we recorded trios by Mozart and Reinecke and transcriptions of Schubert and Massenet.

This will be our first real recital, and, since we’re just at the beginning we have no idea where this path might lead. But we do hope that everyone feels the joy we do and walks away humming a new favorite tune.